The present invention relates to a thermal cutting machine including a dust collector and a dust collecting method thereof.
Conventionally, when a metal plate material (hereinafter, called a workpiece) is thermally cut with plasma arc or laser light, fumes and a high pressure gas (hereinafter, called a flue gas) occur from a back surface of the cut material, and deteriorate the working environment in a factory, and therefore various arts of effectively collecting the flue gas are developed.
For example, Japanese Utility Model Laid-open No. 51-42841 discloses the constitution in which i) a cutting table is divided into small chambers, and branch exhaust pipes, which have openable and closable valve mechanisms in the respective small chambers and communicate with a dust collector for filtering out powder dust via a main exhaust pipe, and ii) means for opening only the branch exhaust pipe in the small chamber in which a plasma torch performs cutting, correspondingly to the position of the plasma torch, which is under cutting operation, are provided. It is described that this constitution makes it possible to collect dust intensively and effectively only in the small chamber where a flue gas is caused by plasma cutting.
Japanese Patent Application Publication No. 52-32343 discloses the art of dividing a cutting table into small chambers, including a limit switch for detecting the position of a plasma torch under cutting operation, and opening only a damper in the small chamber where the plasma torch is performing cutting operation. It is described that the above-described constitution makes it possible to collect dust intensively and effectively only in the small chamber where a flue gas is caused by the plasma cutting.
Japanese Patent Application Publication No. 60-43231 discloses the art of a comparatively large-sized plasma cutting machine provided with a gas duct partitioned perpendicularly to the moving direction of a carriage loaded with a plasma torch, a set of suction hood and blast hood mounted on the carriage and each faced to the aforementioned gas duct of the cutting table, and a dust collector mounted on the carriage. According to this constitution, the suction hood provided at the carriage moves together with the torch, and therefore the conventional dampers required in the respective small chambers become unnecessary, which makes the structure simple and low in cost. In addition, it has the effects of improving dust collecting efficiency by compulsory circulation by an air current from the blast hood to the suction hood, and the like.
Japanese Utility Model Laid-open No. 2-87591 discloses the art of providing a set of an intake system and an exhaust system at positions sandwiching fumes, a combustion gas and the like, which occur during laser beam machining, sending the fumes, the combustion gas and the like with the intake system at one side to the exhaust system at the other side, which discharges them outside the laser machine. It is described that this constitution improves exhaust efficiency.
According to Japanese Utility Model Laid-open No. 5-9760, as shown in FIG. 8, in a plasma machine including a flue gas chute 32 under a torch 31, air blow pipes 33 are placed at the upper edge of a chute 32. The above Laid-opened Utility Model has the constitution in which the air blow pipes 33 has a plurality of discharge holes 35 which discharge air inside the air blow pipes 33 into the chute 32 and form air curtains in a space between the outer edge of a workpiece 34 and an inner edge of the opening of the chute 32. According to the above constitution, a dust collector of the plasma machine, which is capable of absorbing and collecting a flue gas occurring during plasma machining such as cutting or welding at high efficiency, is disclosed.
However, the aforementioned conventional dust collecting apparatuses have the following problems.
(1) In the first and second prior arts disclosed in Japanese Utility Model Laid-open No. 51-42841 and Japanese Patent Application Publication No. 52-32343, the method of only sucking and discharging a flue gas into and from the exhaust chamber inside the table is adopted in each case, thus providing low exhaust efficiency. Above all, the fumes occurring during plasma cutting are very small powders of the order of xcexcm floating in a high-temperature gas, and since its specific gravity is lighter than air at room temperature, it rises in the air. Accordingly, when cutting is performed at the position in the vicinity of the exhaust port, fumes are immediately sucked into the exhaust port, thus causing no problem. However, when it is performed at the position away from the exhaust port, the problem that the fumes spread along the back surface of a workpiece and leak out of a space between the workpiece and the table along the edge of the workpiece arises, as it also becomes the problem in Japanese Utility Model Laid-open No. 5-9760 that is previously described as the prior art. The size of the workpiece is not always the same as that of the table, but some workpieces are smaller with respect to the table, and in this case, the space becomes larger, thus causing the disadvantage that the dust collecting efficiency reduces and the amount of leaking fumes is increased.
(2) In the third prior art described in Japanese Patent Application Publication No. 60-43231, the dust collector, the blast hood and the suction hood are mounted on the carriage, which is originally provided for moving the plasma torch. As a result, a large carriage is required, and it is only proven in a large-sized plasma cutting machine called a gantry type (for example, the table with its machining area in size of 3 mxc3x9712 m). However, in comparatively small-sized plasma cutting machines which are generally produced in volume (for example, the table with its machining area in size of 1.5 mxc3x973 m), it is difficult to provide the dust collector, the blast hood and the suction hood at the carriages in terms of space, and no example of its utilization is found at present.
In the third prior art, the exhaust gas including fume occurring in the gas duct is purified by the dust collector, and is directly used from the dust collector as push air (air is sent to the gas duct inside the table). This method is a simple method, since no device for push air is required. However, an exhaust gas in plasma cutting is at high temperature, and if it is used as push air, an upward current occurs because of the specific gravity being small. Even if the push air is blown toward the exhaust port, fumes escape upward, thus causing the problem that the recovery efficiency is low. Further, in the third prior art, the blast hood and the suction hood are provided at the carriage which moves. Consequently, when a cutting operation in which the carriage is sent at high speed is performed, the blast hood and the suction hood are moved to the next section in the state in which fumes remain in the section of the table, thus causing the disadvantage that the residual fumes leak out of the machine.
(3) The fourth prior art described in Japanese Utility Model Laid-open No. 2-87591 discloses the art of the method for pushing a flue gas into the exhaust chamber with the air blow device in a laser machine, and sucking and exhausting the flue gas with the exhaust system (hereinafter, called a push-pull method). However, the cutting table is not divided, and the exhaust chamber is not divided into a plurality of exhaust chambers, the entire cutting table has to be exhausted, thus requiring a large-sized dust collector with a strong suction force. Since the exhaust chamber is not divided into a plurality of exhaust chambers in the fourth prior art, the exhaust chamber necessarily becomes large, and the sectional area changes sharply among the air blow port and the exhaust port facing each other, and the exhaust chamber between them, thus causing disturbance in the current of the exhaust gas inside the exhaust chamber to cause an eddy and stagnation. Accordingly, a favorable dust collecting effect cannot be obtained.
(4) The fifth prior art described in Japanese utility Model Laid-open No. 5-9760 has the constitution in which push air (air curtain) is blown out of the air blow port provided in the vicinity of the surrounding of the workpiece toward the center, then becomes a downward current in the center of the workpiece while wrapping up fumes therein, and is sucked into the exhaust port. Due to a complicated flow of the current like this, an eddy and stagnation occur in the cutting table, and therefore, it cannot be said that the dust collection efficiency is good. When cutting machining is performed for such a workpiece as is small with respect to the table, the space between the table and the air blow port becomes large, thus causing the problem that the dust collecting efficiency is reduced and the amount of the fumes leaking out of the space is increased.
The present invention is made in view of the above-described disadvantages, and has its object to provide a thermal cutting machine and a dust collecting method thereof, which is applicable to a compact table type thermal cutting machine, and capable of efficiently discharging a flue gas occurring during thermal cutting and keeping the working environment inside a factory favorable.
In order to attain the above-described object, a first aspect of the thermal cutting machine according to the present invention has a constitution including, in a thermal cutting machine for thermally cutting a workpiece placed on a table from above by means of a torch movable in substantially a horizontal direction,
a plurality of exhaust chambers which are separated by at least one partition plate provided in substantially parallel with one side of the table, and are placed side by side inside the table,
an exhaust port provided at one end side in an exhaust direction of each of the exhaust chambers,
exhaust means, which is provided at each of the exhaust ports, communicates with the each exhaust port via an exhaust duct shared by each of the exhaust ports or an individual exhaust passage, and performs exhaust of the each exhaust chamber,
opening and closing drive means for opening and closing each of the exhaust ports,
an air blow port provided at a side of the other end of each of the exhaust chambers and at a position substantially opposing each of the exhaust ports,
air blow means which communicates with an inlet side of each of the air blow ports and blows air into the each air blow port; and
control means for controlling each of the opening and closing drive means and each of the air blow means provided at both end sides of each of the exhaust chambers in synchronism with each other, or controlling them individually, correspondingly to a horizontal position of the torch which is under cutting operation.
According to the above constitution, the flue gas occurring at the under surface side of the workpiece during cutting operation enters only the exhaust chamber corresponding to the position of the torch out of a plurality of exhaust chambers provided to be separated each other inside the table. Air blow and exhaust for the exhaust chamber corresponding to the position of the torch are performed via the exhaust port and the air blow port provided to oppose each other in an exhaust direction. In this situation, the air blow means for blowing air into each of the air blow ports and the opening and closing drive means for opening and closing the exhaust route individually provided between each of the exhaust ports and the exhaust means are synchronously controlled or individually controlled based on the horizontal position of the torch. As a result, the flue gas in the exhaust chamber where the flue gas occurs from the lower part of the workpiece at the position of the torch during thermal cutting is sent to the exhaust port with a current of air caused by the air blow means in the exhaust chamber. Thus, suction exhaust can be performed extremely effectively with the exhaust means without causing disturbance of the current such as an eddy and stagnation. Accordingly, so-called ideal push pull ventilation is performed, and thus leakage of a flue gas out of the machine can be drastically reduced.
A second aspect of the thermal cutting machine according to the present invention has a constitution including, in the above-described first constitution, means for air blow including an individual air blow duct provided at an inlet side of each of the air blow ports, one air blow device which blows air into each of the air blow ports via each of the air blow ducts, and air blow opening and closing means, which is provided at each of the air blow ducts, and performs air blow and stops air blow, in place of the air blow means of the above-described first constitution. According to this constitution, the same operational effects as the above-described first constitution can be obtained.
Further, in the thermal cutting machine, each of the air blow means (or each of the air blow opening and closing means) may be capable of blowing air into only one of the aforementioned exhaust chambers that is provided with the each air blow means (or each air blow opening and closing means), via one of the air blow ports communicating therewith.
According to this constitution, the air blow means (or each of the air blow opening and closing means) is capable of blowing air into only one of the exhaust chambers. As a result, the air blow means can be operated in good timing so as to blow air into only the exhaust chamber where a flue gas is exhausted, and therefore ideal push pull ventilation is performed, thus making it possible to ventilate with reliability in a short time, and improve ventilation efficiency. In addition, the air blow means (or each of the air blow opening and closing means) can be operated in good timing when necessary, thus causing no disadvantages of blowing air into the exhaust chamber when the exhaust port is closed or the exhaust means is not operated, and raising the flue gas accumulated on the bottom of the exhaust chamber to leak it out of the machine.
Further, it may be suitable to adopt a constitution in which each of the exhaust ports is provided at a side nearer to a machine origin of movement of the torch than each of the air blow ports substantially opposed thereto, in the thermal cutting machine.
As described above, the flue gas floating in a high-temperature gas rises because its specific gravity is small. Accordingly, when cutting is performed at the position near the exhaust port, the flue gas is immediately sucked into the exhaust port, but when the workpiece is small and is not large enough to cover the top surface of the exhaust chamber, the flue gas away from the exhaust port tends to spread along the under surface of the workpiece and leak out of a space between the workpiece and the table. Thus, in the above-described constitution, the exhaust port is constructed to be provided at the machine origin of the torch movement. As a result, when the workpiece is smaller with respect to the table, the workpiece is placed at the side of the machine origin of the table in many cases, and therefore the top surface of the exhaust chamber at the side of the exhaust port is covered with the workpiece. Consequently, the space between the workpiece and the upper edge of the table can be substantially eliminated, thus dramatically improving dust collecting efficiency and making it possible to drastically reduce the amount of a flue gas leaking therefrom.
A first aspect of the dust collecting method of the thermal cutting machine includes, in a dust collecting method of a thermal cutting machine for collecting a flue gas occurring when thermally cutting a workpiece placed on a table from above by means of a torch movable in substantially a horizontal direction, the steps of
detecting a horizontal position of the torch when performing cutting operation, and
controlling each of air blow means and each of opening and closing drive means, which are provided to oppose each other with the torch between them, in synchronism with each other or individually, for each of a plurality of exhaust chambers which are separated in substantially parallel with one side of the table and are provided side by side inside the table to perform exhaust of a flue gas inside the exhaust chamber corresponding to the detected horizontal position of the torch, based on the detected horizontal position of the torch.
The above method is the method corresponding to the above-described first constitution of the thermal cutting machine. Namely, according to the method, the flue gas, which occurs from the lower part of the workpiece where the torch under cutting operation is located during thermal cutting, is sent to the exhaust port side with an air current caused by the air blow means in the exhaust chamber corresponding to the torch position out of a plurality of the exhaust chambers which are the separated rooms. Then, the flue gas is exhausted via the opening and closing drive means of the exhaust chamber, which is controlled synchronously with the air blow means or controlled individually, and therefore suction exhaust can be performed extremely efficiently without causing a disturbance of a current such as an eddy and stagnation. As a result, so-called ideal push-pull ventilation is performed and therefore leakage of the flue gas to an outside of the machine can be drastically reduced.
A second aspect of a dust collecting method of a thermal cutting machine according to the present invention includes, in a dust collecting method of a thermal cutting machine for collecting a flue gas occurring when thermally cutting a workpiece placed on a table from above by means of a torch movable in substantially a horizontal direction, the steps of
detecting a horizontal position of the torch when performing cutting operation,
performing air blow and exhaust for an exhaust chamber corresponding to the horizontal position of the torch out of a plurality of exhaust chambers which are separated in substantially parallel with one side of the table and are provided side by side inside the table, and
after the torch passes the exhaust chamber corresponding to the horizontal position of the torch, continuing air blow and exhaust for the exhaust chamber corresponding to the horizontal position of the torch for a predetermined period of time to perform exhaust of a flue gas inside the table.
According to the above method, air blow and exhaust for the exhaust chamber is also continued for the predetermined period of time for the exhaust chamber after the torch under cutting operation passes it. As a result, in the case in which flue gas tends to remain in the exhaust chamber such as in the case of torch movement at the time of high-speed cutting or high-speed torch movement after completion of cutting, the flue gas remaining, in the exhaust chamber can be completely exhausted, and as a result, the effect of making it possible to perform exhaust of the flue gas of the entire inside part of the table completely can be obtained.